


Home Sweet Home

by callmeonetrack



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 13:12:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9273320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmeonetrack/pseuds/callmeonetrack
Summary: Lee goes back to Caprica for the arrow instead of Kara. The shape of things to come changes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Non Canon Character Death  
> This fic is AU beginning with Home Part 1 through Kobol's Last Gleaming.

Lee groaned and rolled off the cylon, trying to catch his breath.

The blonde had put up a hard fight and he was pretty sure he had a few broken ribs. Clearly these skinjobs were stronger than humans. Luckily gravity had taken care of what he couldn’t.

Gasping and wincing, he patted the ground, till his fingers grazed the sharp, bejeweled tip of the arrow. He grasped it, relieved. Lee sure as frak hadn’t gone AWOL and jumped back to this bombed-out shell only to lose the damn thing now.

With difficulty, he managed to get himself upright again. He’d just taken his first few steps when a deep voice called out in the silent museum. “Captain Adama?”

Lee pivoted, his free hand already reaching for his sidearm and pulling it out. Out of a darkened corner, stepped a tall man in a colonial flightsuit, gun cocked in front of him. Shadows obscured his face and Lee’s throat seized up. Was it a trick? Another cylon? “Who the frak is asking?”

The man stepped closer, hands raised in supplication, the gun tilting idly around the finger threaded through the trigger pull. “Agathon, sir. Karl Agathon. My call sign’s Helo. Colonial ID #--”

But Lee had already lowered his own weapon, though he didn’t holster it. He vaguely recalled meeting the raptor pilot on Galactica and once before, years ago. At Kara and Zak’s engagement party. Images flashed through his mind of Kara grinning in a blue T-shirt, stretching on tiptoes to sling an arm around Agathon’s neck as she’d introduced him to Lee as a friend from boot camp. The two of them had cracked up laughing over some memory while Lee had stood there awkwardly, feeling like a third wheel. It’d been an all-too-familiar feeling that summer.

“At ease,” he said, his mind already racing back into the present. Agathon had been Boomer’s ECO before Crashdown took over, he remembered now. He was the one who gave up his seat for Gaius frakking Baltar. Lee’s jaw clenched, a fresh stab of anger piercing him at the thought. _If he hadn’t, Kara would never have…_

He steered his mind out of that dangerous avenue, focused on the man in front of him. “We thought you were dead.”

Agathon shook his head. “So did I.” The big man paused, his brow creasing suddenly. “I would have been if I hadn’t been found by—“

But Lee’s attention was stolen by a flash of movement from the shadows. He turned, gun already rising in expectation. He saw the uniform first, instantly recognizing the reptilian green of the Colonial fleet, and for a split-second, Lee felt pure delight. Another soldier, another survivor. His gaze traveled up eagerly, and landed on a face….an incredibly familiar face. His mouth fell open in shock as Lee Adama stared into the face of Sharon Valerii.

 _Another_ Sharon Valerii.

“Sir, don’t shoot! She’s—“

But the cry was too late. A quick thinker in a crisis, Lee had quickly done the math. One plus one equaled two. So, if there was a Sharon here, and there was a Sharon on Galactica… He didn’t hesitate.

He pulled the trigger.

Sharon fell with a grunt and an anguished sound rose from Helo, who ran over to her and dropped to his knees, picking the cylon up and cradling her in his arms while he called her name again and again. Over the barrel of his smoking gun, Lee watched in shock, his mouth tightening. “Agathon, back away from that metal motherfrakker ASAP.”

“No, No, Captain, you don’t understand. She’s different. Sharon’s different!” Helo cried the words in a desperate, pleading rush, still rocking the cylon in his arms. The man was practically sobbing. _“I love her_!”

“She’s a cylon, Helo. A traitor. She bombed the colonies! She killed our _frakking_ families…” Lee’s own voice rose, shaking as he pictured his mother in her wedding dress, then Gianne staring at him in that courtyard, her hands fluttering, landing on her stomach. “SHE KILLED EVERYONE!”

“SHE’S PREGNANT! With my child! We have to save them!” Helo screamed, and everything went still.

Lee’s mind blanked, an image rising again of Gianne’s hands, trembling against her still-flat belly as she told him about the baby.

The baby he’d walked away from.

The baby these motherfrakking terrorists had _murdered_.

Heart pounding, Lee took a deep breath, then stepped closer to the two huddled figures on the ground. He raised his gun and shot the cylon again. Once in the head, once in the stomach for good measure. Next to her, Karl Agathon screamed, an inhuman sound tearing the air, and Lee swung his arm to the right and pumped a bullet into him too.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Lee dropped his gun and fell to his knees, bracing his head in his shaking hands. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the blood, so dark it was nearly black, running in rivulets in the dirt-covered floor.

He’d shot a man. A human man.

A human man who’d wanted to breed with those monsters, those killers.

Lee closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe and repeated that to himself again and again. He sat there for as long as he dared, pushing steady breaths in and out, until the tremors stopped. They’d have heard the gunshots. More would come. He struggled to his feet again, and stumbled out into the brightness. The nuclear haze stung his eyes, and Lee blinked as he made his way back to the raider parked at the curb, arrow clutched tightly in hand.

He looked around one last time at the blighted wasteland surrounding him. _Home sweet home_ , Lee thought wryly. Then he pulled himself into the raider and launched without looking back.

***

Lee’s hail was not picked up by the Galactica, but the Astral Queen, of all ships. He stared out the small window of the raider’s visor, counting the ships. It wasn’t even half the fleet, all civilian. There was no trace of his father’s hulking behemoth to be found.

Exhausted, he piloted the raider into their landing bay and staggered through the door and down the long hall to the main ship. The first face he saw was Kara’s, bright and beaming beneath the harsh fluorescent lighting of the prison ship. She was already moving towards him, her arms reaching out, and a wave of relief so strong washed through him that his knees nearly buckled. He sagged into her embrace, arms locking tightly around Kara, never wanting to let go again.

 _Thank gods_ , Lee thought. Thank gods, she forgave him.

After a long moment, he pulled back, reluctant but wanting to apologize for that stupid, petty fight about that stupid, petty man. But before he could speak, before he could do anything, Kara surged forward and pressed her lips to his.

Technically it wasn’t their first kiss. They’d kissed drunkenly on a table the night they’d met, but those memories had long been blotted, eclipsed by ambrosia and shame.

This was different. It wasn’t a kiss of passion, but of welcome, of comfort, of relief. And maybe…just maybe, of promise.

Kara pulled back first this time. Her eyes fluttering open, widening as she stared at him, like she was shocked by her own actions.

Lee’s hands slid forward to rest on her hips, keeping her close. “Good to see you too, lieutenant,” he murmured, his voice soft but light.

A smile curved Kara’s lips for a second, then vanished beneath the swipe of her tongue. “A lot happened while you were away, Captain. Remind me to… _debrief_ you later.” One eyebrow arched and Lee wondered if he’d imagined the slight pause, the way her voice had dropped a note lower.

Suddenly, Lee became acutely aware that they had an audience. He’d glimpsed Laura Roslin’s face briefly, before as Kara had moved toward him, and he shifted now to find her standing before him, an incredulous, indulgent smile on her face. “Madame President.”

He felt like a boy who’d gotten caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. Abruptly, he dropped his hands from Kara’s waist.

“Welcome back, Captain Apollo. I believe you have something for me?”

Slowly, he reached for the bundle strapped to his back, and unwrapped the arrow, handing it to Roslin. The president’s smile was blinding. “Thank you, Captain.” Her gaze lifted from the arrow after a moment to study his face. “I imagine the journey was a difficult one. Why don’t you get some rest now,” her eyes flickered briefly to Kara’s face, then back to Lee’s, “and in the morning, we’ll plot our course to Kobol and the tomb of Athena.”

Lee had questions, millions of questions about why the president was presiding over Tom Zarek’s prison ship and where the rest of the fleet was, but the temptation of a little racktime was too overwhelming. Kara caught his hand, tugging. “C’mon.”

They traveled a short distance to an empty room filled with several cots and a desk. The accommodations were even more sparse than on Galactica but all Lee cared about was the mattress that was calling his name. He sagged down, wincing as he bent to unlatch his flight boots, then wriggled out of the sticky, sweat-drenched vinyl of his suit. The movements took a lot out of him and he wavered a little on his feet afterwards.

Kara, who was already half undressed, rushed over and grabbed his arms, bracing him. “Whoa, you alright  
there?”

“Yeah, I just…just need to sit.”

He eased down onto the rack, and Kara moved with him, sinking down next to him. “Thanks.”

He expected her to let go, to move, but Kara’s hands tightened on his biceps. Lee looked up, only to find her staring at him with an unfathomable expression on her face. “Kara? What is it?”

Her mouth opened then closed, no sound coming out. She tried again. “I—I didn’t know if I’d ever see  
you again,” her voice was low, choked with emotion. Kara’s brow furrowed, and her teeth sunk into her lower lip, worrying the flesh. Her hands loosened, slid up to his shoulders, the movement slow and deliberate, wide eyes studying his face, and Lee’s pulse started pounding, blood thrumming in his veins. His tiredness disappeared in a flash, replaced by heady anticipation. But he waited for Kara.

She inched forward, her eyes never leaving his. It was torture, but Lee forced himself to remain still, to let this happen on Kara’s terms. Her hands slid up to his neck, and then she was kissing him again, the warmth of her mouth pressed to his once more.

The first kiss was long and chaste, just their lips touching with gentle pressure. Then Kara sighed, her body shuddering slightly, and her fingers tightened on his nape and her lips parted against his. Lee wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer, as the kiss deepened. Kissing Kara was heady, dizzying, intoxicating. It was everything he ever imagined it would be.

Her head tilted, nose brushing his cheek, her tongue tangling with his, and Lee leaned back till his head hit mattress, pulling Kara down on top of him. They shifted, the length of her body fitting against his, curves and angles locking into place, wildfires igniting under his skin. “Kara,” he breathed, because he could. Because he liked the sound of her name on his lips. Lee slipped a hand under her tank, spreading his fingers against the small of her back and pressing down slightly. He was hard already and the pressure of her hips made him shiver. Lee’s mouth slipped across her skin, skimming her jaw, teeth catching her earlobe as Kara gasped and shifted, already grinding down against him on her own. His breath came out in a hiss. “Gods, want you so much… _please_.”

Kara sat up, eyes glittering above him, and crossed her arms stripping off her tanks and bra in one smooth motion. He stared for one long indulgent moment, and couldn’t breathe. Then she tugged his hands up, pressing his palms to her breasts, hands covering his as she leaned down. Kara’s lips curved into a smirk above him, and she kissed him again, then whispered, “Well, it’s about frakking time.”

Things got fuzzier after that. They shed their clothes in a blur, desire fueling their motions until they were bare, then everything stopped again as Kara braced herself above him, hands splayed on his chest as she slid down, taking him inside her agonizingly slowly. His whole body tightened, both his brain and his hips jolting at finally, _finally_ , knowing this feeling.

Clutching her hips, Lee let one hand brush down to the junction of their bodies, fingers gliding over her skin overlapping, surrounding his, like he couldn’t believe it was happening unless he could see it, touch it, feel it. Kara moaned, the soft sound vibrating from deep in her throat as he stroked their commingled skin, and it lit him up, ignited him completely.

Lee pulled her down to him, his mouth, hungry, urgently seeking hers again, as they started rocking together, slowly then faster. Kara pulled away to groan his name, then a series of curses, as her face tensed. She was close, he could tell, and Lee gripped her tighter, rolled them over and Kara locked her legs around his waist. He stared down into her face, incapable of looking away, of missing a single second of seeing the pleasure ripple over her features as he stroked into her harder, deeper, toppling her over the edge. Only when her body relaxed again did he press his face to her neck and give in to his own release.

A bone-deep satiety stole through his body then bringing back the exhaustion of hours before. Lee’s cracked ribs twinged, reminding him of the battle on Caprica. He was going to be impossibly sore tomorrow, but he didn’t care. He slid down to the mattress next to Kara, whose closed eyes slid open as they rearranged themselves on the narrow cot. Lee reached for a blanket, drew it up over their bodies and slid his arms around Kara again. Her face was relaxed, but earnest, studying him. “So, how was Caprica?”

He thought suddenly of what he’d done. What he’d had to do. Agathon was her friend. He’d killed him. It occurred to him finally that he’d never told anyone about Sharon. What she was. “Kara, Sharon! Gods, she’s a cylon. She was on Caprica and I—”

Kara flinched, interrupting him. “I know. Lee, she…she tried to shoot your dad.”

His stomach twisted, panic filling his chest. “What? NO. My gods, is he—what?”

Kara was shaking her head, her hands flying up to his cheeks. “No, it’s okay. He’s okay, Lee.” She took a breath. “Dee saved him. She…jumped in front of Sharon’s gun. She…she’s dead.”

Lee gaped at her. All of this was too much to process, relief and sadness and anger most of all, at himself for jumping away, for not being here, all of it churned in him until he didn’t know what to feel. He took a shuddering breath and just stared at Kara. She shifted closer, wrapped her arms around him. “I know. It’s all frakked up.”

He closed his eyes, tipped his forehead down to Kara’s and tried to breathe. After a moment, she pulled back, the hint of a sad smile on her face. “So, I guess in comparison, a trip to a nuclear wasteland was a piece of cake, right?”

Guilt speared through him again as Agathon’s face flashed in his head. How could he tell her that he’d shot the man in cold blood? A cylon was one thing, but Karl was human. In collusion with them, sure, but Kara might not see it that way. She didn’t know about Gianne, the baby. She wouldn’t understand what it felt like, to hear him say that… that _thing_ was pregnant. All of these thoughts flickered through his mind like lightning.

Kara stared at him, concerned. “Lee?”

“Yeah,” he said finally, his voice rough. She didn’t need to know. She’d assumed Agathon was dead just like the rest of them had. He could leave it out of his reports, just say he’d come upon Sharon and shot her. He didn’t have to tell them anything more than that. No one had to know of the man’s betrayal. Kara’s memories of her friend would stay pure, untainted. That was worth it, right?

Deep down, he knew it was selfish, maybe even cowardly, but Lee was good at lying to himself when necessary. He could live with this secret. Hell, if he could live with the Olympic Carrier….well what was one more life when you’d already sacrificed 1300?

“Yeah, Caprica was a real pleasure cruise.”

She huffed a short humorless laugh, then shifted closer to him, resting her head against his collarbone. “I’m glad you’re home.”

Lee took a deep, steadying breath, pressed a kiss to Kara’s hair, and wondered when his definition of home had shifted. He murmured, “Me too.”


End file.
